According to a Chinese-language Commercial Times report, Wintek will be supplying Apple computers touch panels for their new line up of netbooks.The actual use of the panels was not mentioned but many speculations are for Apple's Netbook to help compete with the latest trend of ultra portable computers. No exact shipment schedule was released but shipments are likely to begin in the second half of this year.
Wintek also supplys touch panels for other hand held devices such as PDA's, phones, camcorders and cameras. The Taiwan based company reported NT$1.81 billion ($52 US million) in February of this year, showing a promising record of profit with huge demand for touch panels in 2008 and a continuing trend for this year.
As no solid information has been released about Apple's upcoming touch-screen netbooks, rumors speculate that information about the new product(s) will be seen around the third quarter of this year, according to Commercial Times and DigiTimes.
I'm guessing that they're realising the the recession is going to damage their sales, so they need to make something affordable.
They said they would see if the market gets large enough. And if so, they "had some nice ideas".
I'm sure it will look very good, be very sturdy and cleverly designed (i.e. touch screen) but if they think they can get away with charging a similar price to that of a full featured laptop (which is "cheap" by Apple standards) and get away with it, I think they'll be disappointed.
I want a full-fledged laptop, not something with a dinky amount of storage and an eye-straining screen.
Is 4-6 lbs really that much weight to carry?
For extreme portability, my iPhone does the job just fine.
The iPhones apps take advantage of the native resolution, and allow easy zooming.
Plus, I meant that it's great for on-the-go extreme portability (bus, plane, walking etc.) I can't see myself whipping out a netbook walking down the street, or on a bus to check mail, or browse the net.
The iPhone meets my needs that way, and a full laptop meets my needs for large files, full speed, full applications.
I want a full-fledged laptop, not something with a dinky amount of storage and an eye-straining screen.
Is 4-6 lbs really that much weight to carry?
For extreme portability, my iPhone does the job just fine.
My netbook (samsung nc10) came with 160GB of storage. How much storage are you looking for in a laptop? I have a portable 500GB usb powered hard drive for whatever else.
Netbooks definitely aren't for everyone. But I wouldn't trade mine for a full-fledged laptop. I have no need for the extra screen size and the optical drive (or horse power). I would argue that the battery life is superior on a netbook, but some new laptops offer comparable battery life. For me it is all about shaving off those few extra pounds (2.6lbs here) for travel and note taking around my job and at home. I have beefy desktops to do my heavy lifting with... a netbook for ultra portability. Thats how I roll.
PDAs are good if you just want to browse the web. I do a lot of typing on my netbook, which makes it better suited than a PDA by far. The first generation of netbooks had very cramped keyboards, but they are almost full sized now with the 10" lineup. My netbook has a very comfortable keyboard.
http://www.misterbg.org/AppleProductCycle/
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